Roses and Fangs: ch. 3. Convergence pt. 2.

Jacqueline nervously allowed Erica to lead her toward Marycrest trying hide to hide her nervousness. She felt a touch on her shoulder and jumped before she realized that Erica was trying to guide her around some kind of unidentifiable mess on the pavement.
“Geeze relax, girl,” Erica shook her head in a mix of annoyance and amusement. “You’re too jumpy.”
“Sorry, I guess I’m still kinda creeped out from the other night,” Jacqueline replied. “So what did you want to talk to me about? I swear I haven’t said anything.”
“Jeeze as I said, relax. Actually I was gonna make you an offer.”
“What kind of offer?” Jacqueline looked over at Erica, half curious half suspicious.
If Erica saw the look she ignored it. “I’m an RA in Stuart Hall. I was talking to your RA and she said you were having trouble fitting in. She also mentioned you were having trouble with some of the girls on your floor. As it turns out I have a girl on my floor who is a little… uncomfortable… with her roommate. She’s trying to get a new room and has her stuff packed. If you like, student housing has given us permission to swap the two of you.”
Jacqueline stopped and turned to Erica. “My RA thinks I’m a problem?”
Erica snorted. “No, actually she likes you allot. You just don’t fit in well with the other girls on your floor. We think you’d fit in better with the girls on mine. There is a catch though.”
Jacqueline looked up at Erica. “Okay you already mentioned that the girl moving out was uncomfortable with her roommate. What’s the deal?”
Erica eyed Jacqueline. “Well your roommate would be a vampire. Can you live with that? You seem very jumpy around me.”
Jacqueline blinked and thought about it a few minutes. “Well, Sam and Kara don’t make me uncomfortable and Sam’s a vampire. You really creeped me out the other night. That’s why I’m scared of you.”
Erica pouted. “I didn’t mean to scare you quite that much. I only wanted to make sure you wouldn’t go around blabbing about Kara and Sam. As much for your sake as for theirs.”
“I wouldn’t have anyways. I owe them.”
Erica shrugged. “Well, I had to be sure. Sorry.”
“I’ll do it.”
“Really, you sure? Even though you’re scared of me?”
“Yeah it has to be better then where I am.”
Erica smiled. “Let me call your RA and let her know then.” She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey Sherry, its Erica. Jacqueline agreed.” She paused a moment. “Yeah if you could that would be great. She’s nearly packed anyways.” Another pause. Why don’t we do it tonight then. I can help Jacqueline pack.” She winked at Jacqueline. “Yeah that would be awesome. We’ll meet you there in ten. Thanks.”
She hung up the phone and gestured for Jacqueline to lead the way. “time to get you moved, girl.”
When they got to Jacqueline’s room, Sherry was standing there with two carts. “I borrowed these, I have to return them but should be enough to load everything up. Need my help? If not I’m gonna go get another cart and help Michelle move her stuff.”
Erica glanced to Jacqueline who shook her head with a smile. “Aside form my clothes and a few other things I hadn’t really unpacked too much yet. We can just throw most of them into some garbage bags. I think the two of us can handle it. Thanks, Sherry, for everything.”
Sherry smiled and gave Jacqueline a hug. “No problem. I’ll go help Michelle then. Take care and if you need anything feel free to stop by or call.”
Two hours later Jacqueline and Erica were in Stuart Hall, Erica unlocking the door and handing Jacqueline the key. “There you go.”
The room was a little smaller then the room in Marycrest, but somehow even with the bare closet and bed, it still felt welcoming to Jacqueline.
Erica helped unload Jacqueline’s stuff into the center of the room then stacked one cart on the other. “I’m gonna go return these to Sherry. Oh and I need your key.”
Jacqueline smiled and handed Sherry the key to the room in Marycrest. “Alright I’m gonna start unpacking then.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be back to check in on you later. Shelly should be back soon. I told her a little about you so things should be good.” With a slight wave she left pushing the carts down the hall towards the elevators.
Jacqueline had barely finished putting her clothes away and was still setting up her laptop, printer, and knickknacks on her desk when she heard a knock on the door. She cautiously opened it and peeked out. Several girls were standing outside. The one in front smiled. “Hi we heard that someone was switching with Michelle. I guess that’s you? Anyways I’m sure you’re busy, but we just wanted to come by and say hi and welcome to the floor. We often eat dinner together at VWK if you want to join us.” She proceeded to introduce herself and the other girls though Jacqueline didn’t really catch any of the names. “Well we’ll leave you alone now, but we hope to see you around.”
“Thanks. I’ll try and be at the next group dinner,” Jacqueline smiled as the girls all waved and headed back to their rooms.

Roses and Fangs: ch. 3. Convergence pt. 1.

It was about a quarter till eight when Kara pulled into the s2 parking lot a bit down the hill from Stuart hill. Aside from a quick side trip to Wendy’s to get food, they had come straight back. Even though Kara had offered to drop them off at their dorms, both had elected just to walk.
As they unloaded the backpacks and Kara’s bag from the trunk, a school van pulled in a bit further down the lot. At first, Kara didn’t pay any attention to the students piling out of it as she shut the trunk to her own car. She suddenly sensed Jacqueline tensing beside her and turned to look to see a dark-dressed figure heading over towards them.
She tensed herself and took a few deep breaths to get herself under control.
“That’s Sam’s cousin,” she hissed to Jacqueline. “She used to look out for me and Sam when we were younger. Her name’s Erica.”
“I know. We’ve met,” Jacqueline’s voice trembled slightly, though the dark haired girl made a valiant attempt not to look scared. Her scent still gave her away.
She’s learning, Kara thought impressed but turned her attention back to Erica as she approached.
“Hey cuz, think fast!” Erica tossed a small bag at Sam, who snatched it out of the air one handed. It looked like some kind of candy. She turned to Kara and Jacqueline with a big smile. “Hey Kara, Jacqueline, what’s shakin’?”
“Hello,” Jacqueline half stepped so she was slightly behind Kara who tried to offer a friendly smile.
“Not much, how have you been Erica?” Kara offered a friendly greeting, by winced at the slight edge of tension that carried through her voice. She liked Erica well enough, but Erica was part of Sam’s family and, as far as she knew, a vampire too.
Erica rolled her eyes slightly and walked right up to Kara putting her hand on Kara’s right shoulder. Kara held her ground, though the hair on her neck stood up as she tried to look anywhere but in Erica’s eyes. Glancing at Sam, “Oh for God’s sake, you haven’t told her?”
Sam fidgeted looking guilty.
She turned back catching Kara’s gaze before Kara could look away. Kara flinched as Erica’s eyes went from brown to golden with catlike slits and back. Her own changed briefly in recognition and she tried to face down the rising terror she felt.
“For God’s sake girl, relax, will you?” Erica rolled her eyes again. “How long have we known each other? Almost as long as you’ve known Sam, right? If I haven’t hurt you in all this time do you think I am now?”
Kara sighed and relaxed. “I guess not. But you can understand why I would be a bit uneasy. How long have you known? Did Sam tell you?” She cast a glance at Sam.
Sam shook his head. He nudged Erica till Erica backed up giving Kara and Jacqueline some space. “No, I never told her. In fact I’d like to know how she figured it out myself.”
“Yeah, I’ve known for years. So has Sam’s mom.”
“She does?” Sam nearly shouted the same time as Kara let out a shocked “What?”
Erica simply shrugged. “Who do you think told me? Why do you think I looked out for you both so long? Some of those fights I got into over the two of you were pretty bad you know.” Her eyes sparkled a bit. “They were damn fun though.”
“But mom hates weres,” Sam was clearly stunned. “She was always talking about how bad weres were.” He looked at Kara hopelessly. “I never agreed with her obviously.”
Erica smiled tightly. “Yeah, well despite all her talk, and she does have reasons, she still seems to like you, Kara.” She paused and tilted her head. “Well maybe like isn’t quite the right word, but she accepts you. You don’t need to worry about her anyway.”
She paused again. “I think that Sam, me, and Sam’s folks are the only ones that know what you are. You’re secret is still safe girl. None of us is gonna out you.”
Kara smiled tightly. “Thank you.”
“No problem. Oh one more thing, you know we’re both on the RA schedule this weekend right?”
Kara winced. “Oh hell.”
Erica smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ve already asked to trade with you so you don’t work on the full moon. You just need to sign off on it.”
Kara was starting to feel a little less uncomfortable now. “I’ll do that on my way in. Thank you so much.”
“No problem. I need to talk to Jacqueline though.”
“What about?” Jacqueline stammered from behind Kara. “I’ve kept my mouth shut. I promise!”
Erica laughed. “God you’re all strung tighter then a French corset!” She shook her head. “I was gonna come see you tonight anyways. I know your RA. She and I have an idea I’d like to talk to you about if you’re interested.”
“Erm okay,” Jacqueline eased out from behind Kara as Erica guided her towards Marycrest.
As the two women walked away Kara turned to Sam who looked as lost and confused as she felt. “So your mom knows huh?”
Sam gave a dazed half shrug. “Apparently. She never told me. Either she either assumed I knew she knew or she didn’t want to tell me. I don’t know what that means.”
It was Kara’s turn to shrug. “I dunno either. One more thing to think about. Anyways, thank you for a great time today.” She gave him a hug and left him looking as bewildered as she felt.

Roses and Fangs: ch. 2. Broken Paths pt. 4.

***
A couple days later, as their last class of the day let out, Kara caught up to Sam and grabbed his arm pulling him aside. “Look, I’m not ready to make up my mind yet, but I was thinking about heading over to Sugarcreek Reserve for a bit. If you want to come along, I wouldn’t mind. As friends I mean.”
“I’d love to,” Sam smiled. “Right now, or?”
She looked him over a minute. “I was kinda thinking now, unless you wanted to change to a different pair of jeans.”
“Nah, I’m good. Wanna take your car or mine?”
“Mine’s closer, if that’s okay?” She looked up at him as they watched. He was glancing at her but looked away quickly.
“Makes no difference to me. Lead on.”
As they pushed through the front doors of the humanities building, they saw Jacqueline sitting on the plaza. She was off to the side by herself plugged into an mp3 player looking a little dejected. With a silent glance to each other they both walked over and sat down on either side of her.
It took a moment for her to sense the people next to her, but then she took out her earphones. “Oh, hi,” she said hesitantly, brushing her dark hair out of her face.
“Something wrong?” Kara asked, noting the girl’s demeanor.
“I don’t think I fit in here very well. My afternoon classes are cancelled today and most of the girls on my floor went off together, and I wasn’t invited. As usual,” She finished softly to herself, probably not realizing that both Sam and Kara could here it.
Kara looked over Jacqueline to Sam and caught his questioning expression. She nodded ever so slightly. “Well, Kara and I are going to a park. You’re more then welcome to come along if you wish.”
“I don’t want to be a third wheel,” Jacqueline said softly.
“You won’t be, I promise,” Kara answered and Sam nodded. She grabbed Jacqueline’s arm and pulled her up. “Come on, it’s too nice a day to sulk.” Jacqueline looked about to protest a bit but then shrugged and allowed herself to be lead away.
They walked to Kara’s car, with Sam and Kara joking around and trying to cheer up Jacqueline. By the time they reached the silver sedan, she was starting to relax slightly, but still seemed a bit on edge. As they loaded their backpacks into the trunk Sam breathed into Kara’s ear. “She’s scared.”
Kara mouthed back, “I know,” as soon as Jacqueline was looking away. She noticed that Jacqueline immediately went for the back passenger side seat, and sat looking out the window. She slipped the car in gear.
A little over twenty minutes later they were hiking one of the loops, Sam and Kara pointing out favorite spots and noteworthy plants to Jacqueline. Slowly, she started to come out of her shell, asking questions, offering opinions. Kara and Sam were starting to think she was pulling out of her shell when she suddenly blurted out, “So did you invite me because you were feeling sorry for me, or is this a way to get me on my own or?”
Sam stopped in his tracks a little taken back. Kara frowned and grabbed Jacqueline’s shoulders and spun her around so two girls were face to face. “Okay, lets get something straight, okay?” Cringing slightly at her repetition of the word she went on, “I’ve never been one to choose my friends based on who I felt sorry for. Nor am I the type of person that goes around eating people. To my knowledge, Sam has never done either of those things either. We invited you because we like you.”
Sam chuckled lightly as he stood a bit behind Kara, “I don’t really feel like talking about my eating habits out here, but I don’t go around just biting people. It’s bad manners, and really not very hygienic.”
Jacqueline looked between them, a look of confusion. “Then why did you invite me?”
Sam sighed, “Look at it this way, yeah I’ve had human friends, some I like allot and consider good friends, but although there’s some I think I could trust with knowing what I am, I still can’t risk it. You already know. You seem nice. And you seem like you could use a friend.”
Kara nodded. “It’s pretty much the same for me. Not many close human friends. As a were, you’re pretty much brought up to really only stick to your own kind. You’re taught to never get to close to other races.” She looked back at Sam with a wry smile, “Especially, vampires.” She turned back to Jacqueline, “but, that’s not the only reason. You offered to be someone I could talk to. Aside from Sam, and my Mom, I never really had that. And for the longest time I still hid that I was a were from Sam.”
“So you just invited me because you want to be friends?” Jacqueline’s expression and tone suggested she was both hopeful and afraid to get her hopes up at the same time.
“Yes!” Sam and Kara said in unison.
Jacqueline turned off and headed along the path. For the rest of the hike she remained quiet, and when they returned to the commons area by the parking lot she sat in the grass watching a bunch of kids play with a couple of dogs while their parents prepared a picnic and Kara and Sam tossed a Frisbee they retrieved from Kara’s car.
Jacqueline noticed the dogs seemed a little uneasy if they got too close to Kara and Sam and tended to avoid them. She watched with envy as the kids wrestled and played fetch with the dogs. For a few minutes she didn’t notice that Sam and Kara were sitting on either side of her again.
She blinked. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“I asked if you liked dogs.” Kara stretched out beside Jacqueline.
“Yeah, I do. I always wanted one, but I wasn’t allowed to have one as a kid. Mom said they were too much work and dad… well lets just say dad didn’t like dogs much.” She smiled sadly. “Sometimes, I envy the kids I see playing with their dogs. Selfish, I know, but sometimes I just wish I could have had a dog growing up.”
Suddenly, she went red and looked at Kara as if just realizing something. “No offense, Kara.”
Kara smiled broadly and let out a light laugh. “None taken.” She leaned forward toward Jacqueline and Sam. “You two want in on a dirty little secret?”
Sam arched his eyebrow, “Oh?”
Jacqueline nervously shifted, “Sure?”
Kara giggled. “I’ll be right back!” She sprinted off to her car and returned with an almost empty duffle bag. She pulled a collar out of it and fastened it very loosely around her neck. “I used to enjoy shifting and wondering the neighborhood in wolf form and play with some of the neighborhood kids. Used to drive my parents nuts. But because of my coloring I could get away with it. Eventually, they broke down and got a license for a German Sheppard.” She giggled a bit then headed to the restrooms.
A couple minutes later a large canine with golden coloring peeked out from the entrance then sprinted over to Sam. Kara gave her tail a couple of saucy wags as she swiped the Frisbee from him, teasing him with it then dropping it into Jacqueline’s lap.
Wide-eyed Jacqueline scrambled to her feet and tossed the Frisbee. Kara chased it and snatched it from the air in a way that showed she was well-practiced. She brought it back to Jacqueline, wagging her tail heavily.
Sam joined in and the three of them played fetch with the Frisbee for a while. When Sam and Jacqueline started to tire, Kara snuggled up between them letting them scratch her ears for a while. Even in her wolf form Kara could see the change come over Jacqueline as she relaxed and finally truly enjoyed herself. She let the girl hug her and pet her to her hearts content.
When seven rolled around, Kara snuck back into the restroom and emerged looking both human and dressed. She slipped the collar and Frisbee into the bag meeting Jacqueline and Sam’s smiles with her own. “We should start heading back.”
As they walked back to the car Jacqueline leaned over suddenly and gave Kara a big hug. “Thank you.” She kept smiling the whole way back to campus.

Nalandra (A Rappelz Story) pt. 1

She woke up shaking her head trying to clear it. She was on a pad at the base of the stairs to some strange tower. As she pulled herself to her feet she realized two things rather quickly; that she could remember her name and nothing else.
She didn't even know who she was other then that she was called Nalandra or Nala for short.
"Hey get up, you need to get moving!" a voice called to her. A stranger standing nearby said. "We have other recruits coming so either come over and start your training or get out of the way."
Still trying to gain her balance she wandered over and tried to ask some questions but was cut off quickly. "Welcome to Trainee Island. Don't worry about the memory loss, its natural and expected. Now lets begin your training."
Before Nalandra could protest she was sent on a whirlwind of various tasks by a collection of about a dozen people. Each of these quests seemed to involve finding someone, killing a bunch of roaming monstrous creatures, or gathering items. Though she was paid well for these tasks, she couldn't help noticing the urgency with which she was pushed through them, and that other "recruits" around her were pushed just as hard. Most questions were deflected or outright ignored, especially anything about who she was or why she was here.
She quickly learned she was proficient with monsters and began training a giant catlike creature called a Pantera. They came in many different species but generally all looked alike. She also learned she had magic-like abilities to heal these creatures, herself, and to sometimes damage the various hostile creatures.
She also had something like some kind of radio in her head that never shut up letting her hear thousands of voices in her head. Eventually she learned how to control them, filtering them, and even responding to them.
After a few weeks she was transported, again seemingly magically to a city on the continent called Lasky, a metropolis floating in the air filled with shops, warehouses, homes, and in the center a massive church. As she learned to navigate around the continent she figured out that the society was divided into about a half dozen cities and each one seemed to operate under different monarchs but tied together by the mix of magic and technology and by the church that seemed to rule all.
Besides Lasky, there was Horizon, a city in the plains; Katan, a city built into a volcanic crater, Rhondo, probably the largest and most "traditional" city, and a city that called itself the hidden village that you had to receive special passes to get into. Additionally, other small camps and villages splattered the landscape.
Very quickly, Nalandra learned that monsters were plentiful and friends were few in this beautiful but hellish world.
Because she had an affinity for some of these monsters, although she wasn't so good at actually taming them, she eventually bought or traded a few including two pixies and a human-like creature called a siren. She didn't use the siren much, finding it to be weak and troublesome, but she liked her pantera and her pixies.
These creatures were controlled from a devices that looked like oversized tarot cards and each had its own personality and skills. Some like the pixies and sirens could talk some could not.
Because friends were rare, Nalandra usually took jobs that allowed her to hunt on her own with just her pets, the creatures she had tamed or bought. However, eventually, she eventually took a job in a set of ruins where she kept running into some of the same people over and over again.
Among the most notable of these were Tatty, a healer that could heal people as well as creatures, someone that came across as a cross between a mage and a fighter named Sin, and another breeder similar to herself who refereed to herself only as Gidion's Girl after her partner, Gidion.
After a while, Nalandra started joining in parties with one or more of these people and sometimes others in order to survive the tougher jobs. Many times these pople helped Nalandra with more then simply shear survival, giving her equipment, tips, money, and perhaps most important, trust.
Nalandra loved the times she spent with these people, and one day Sin asked her why she didn't join the guild they were all in. After a few days of debating it with herself, Nalandra joined Requiem.
As time wore on and she became increasingly involved in the guild, she began to grow nearly inseparable from Tatty, and considered Gidion, Gidion's Girl, and Sin close friends as well. She began to think things were looking up.
But then one day she had an argument with Tatty and Tatty disappeared after radioing another guild party she was going to join them, never to be seen again. Nalandra searched everywhere she could but never saw her friend again. Everyday thereafter she always thought of her and felt a horrible emptiness in her heart.
Though she meant more friends she grew close to both in the guild and out, such as Tumm, Girus, Pokey, and others, she felt uneasy and continued to question her existence and her identity.
Then one day new monsters began appearing. Some of the most vicious were the harpies, creatures with fearsome tempers that were both hard to tame and viciously proficient with the bow and arrow. The harpies and other new monsters had a higher attrition rate on on the various adventurers that wandered the globe and even several of Nalandra's friends were injured by these creatures.
Despite that Nalandra grew fascinated by the harpies and began saving to either tame or purchase one.
Rumors of the arrival of a new ship guarded heavily on trainee island also appeared during this time. Some of the rumors said the crew was dead, other said the crew were turned into zombies and skeletons, and some even said the fearsome witch, dead some thirty years was responsible. The church sent a team to the ship and it disappeared.
Nalandra eventually went to investigate for herself and found the crew was indeed undead. As she made her way through the ship she found members of the team that the church sent, most of whom seemed to blame the witch. As she killed off the various zombies and creatures and rescued the remains of the team she found two things that shook her. The first was the spirit of a girl that encouraged her to question everything she thought she knew about the world, the witch, the church, and her own existence. The other thing she found was it was a member of the church itself that had caused the disaster.
As she returned home from that ordeal, even more strange monsters appeared. One of the new monsters, called a naga, nearly killed Nalandra, and it shook her to the core.
When she returned to the guild she found out that Gidion and Gidion's Girl had left, as well as another friend called Frostboarder. The news devastated Nalandra, who felt it was not only a betrayal to the guild but to her personally as well, and it took her a long time to even speak to any of them again, even though Gidion's Girl eventually came back to the guild. Nalandra never recovered from this.
During this period of sorrow, Nalandra eventually was able to trade for a harpy. It was a bit older and more powerful then she wanted, and badly trained, and though she liked it, they didn't get along well at all. Nalandra eventually found herself nearly giving up on the harpy.
As more members of the guild left or went missing, Nalandra increasingly threw herself recklessly into hunting and increasingly dangerous jobs. She no longer cared if the creatures she hunted were so extremely powerful that they were beyond her skills or abilities to fight. Most often she fought with her harpy, whom she named Adorable, by her side, and the harpy became increasingly agitated and hard to control as their close calls came increasingly closer.
Then one day in a patch of deep woods Nalandra and Adorable found themselves horribly overwhelmed by the sheer number of monsters. Nalandra had in her grief blindly led them into the very nests of several creatures. Though Adorable fought harder then she ever had, a pantera got through and dove for her.
Nalandra saw the pantera leap at Adorable. Seeing what at the time she considered her last companion about to fall, Nalandra spun around placing herself between Adorable and the pantera, and shoved the pantera out of the way. Nalandra felt the impact knock her face down into the ground. She felt the powerful claws dig into her back and jaws clamp down on the back of her neck. Then she blacked out.
***
A persistent nudging in her side and repeated worried sounding croaks and squawks eventually caused her to awake. Through she was in pain all over she eventually opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the worried eyes of Adorable looking down into hers, a reproachful look on the harpy's, surprisingly human-like face. The second she saw was her gear strewn about behind the harpy, a trail of bandages leading from her pack to where the harpy was trying to gently tie them up as best she could with her sharp claws.
Nalandra smiled weakly, taking the gauze gently from the harpy to finish tying the knot then gave the harpy a soft smile. "Thank you Adorable. I'm sorry I got us in this mess, I'll try and be more careful in the future."
The harpy offered a smile, then cast a spell that allowed Nalandra to fall back asleep, her wounds already healing beneath the bandages...

Roses and Fangs: ch. 2. Broken Paths pt. 3.

Kara slid into her room and shut the door. It had taken some doing but she had managed to secure herself a dorm room to herself even though her scholarship did not cover the cost of private rooms. Sighing softly she tossed her backpack in the corner and her jacket on the foot of the bed. She opened the door to the cheap built in wardrobe and reached up to the top shelf taking a book from the top shelf and closing the doors. Plopping down on her bed, ignoring the jacket, she set the book on her pillow and opened it staring at the pictures contained within.
Outside her door a pair of high-heeled boots made absolutely no sound as their owner walked away.

***

Later that night Jacqueline was in the laundry room at Marycrest residence hall. It was sometime past midnight, and although a couple of dryers held long since dry loads of laundry, she was alone in the room as she pulled a couple of loads from dryers and tossed them onto the folding table. She moved a couple of more loads from washers into dryers and set yet two more loads into washer. I really have too many clothes, she thought to herself. Maybe I should donate some to Goodwill or something.
She was midway through folding the loads she had pulled out when the click of the door closing startled her. She spun around immediately on guard since the door was meant to remain open.
A dark-haired woman dressed like she might have just stepped out of Bizarre or Goth Today magazines stood blocking the door. Her raven black hair swept down behind her ears and well down the front and back of her equally dark leather jacket. A leather skirt, tights, and knee-high buckled boots of a matching black completed the outfit. Her pale face and over dramatic midnight blue eye-shadow and crimson lips set of a round face.
“Um, Can I help you?” Jacqueline stammered, something about the strange girl setting her on edge.
The girl crossed her arms and looked Jacqueline up and down sternly, biting her lip a bit. Jacqueline felt like she was being examined as the girl adopted a speculative expression. Finally, she met Jacqueline’s eyes and stated matter-of-factly, “You aren’t supposed to know about us.”
“Excuse me?” Jacqueline backed up staring at the girl. She made a quick glance around the room but didn’t see anything immediately useful but she moved herself in reach of her laundry detergent, a little uncertain of what good it could do.
“You aren’t supposed to know about us. It could get you killed if the wrong people found out.” The girl said, cocking an eyebrow as she watched Jacqueline move.
“Like you, I suppose?” Jacqueline’s voice grew tight as she reached out grabbing the detergent and trying to twist off the cap.
Before she could, the girl was suddenly across the room right in front of her gently, but firmly taking the detergent bottle away and setting it on the table. Jacqueline gulped and tried to step back but the girl grabbed her by the shoulders, again gently but firmly, holding her in place.
“No, not like me. You have spunk, a backbone. Allot like her, I like that. I told Sam I had their backs, I think I’ll have yours too.”
“You’re one of them, aren’t you? Which are you? Vampire or Were?” Jacqueline asked, her voice trembling slightly with fear but she didn’t take her eyes away from the girls.
“Very good. Yes I’m one of ‘them,’” she smiled slightly; “I’m a vampire. A daywalker like Sam.”
“So you gonna kill me? For knowing what you are?”
The girl smiles slightly and let go of Jacqueline backing up slightly and offering a thin smile, allowing the tips of her fangs to extend slightly. “No, like I just said, I think I will have your back. I’m not as paranoid as some about people knowing about our existence, and I think you might do them both some good.” Her expression softened a bit. “Lord knows that I wish she would realize they already are together whether she realized it or not.”
“You want Sam and Kara together?” Jacqueline asked her curiosity tempering her fear somewhat. “I thought they could be killed for that.”
“My, my, someone has been talking. Don’t go around sharing what you’ve heard, but yes that is true there are many that would kill them. Allot of people, vampires and weres alike don’t like it when vampires and weres mate. Some might overlook a short term casual fling, but definitely not anything serious which is probably part of what holds Kara back.”
“But not you,” Jacqueline eyed the girl.
“Perceptive. No not me. I want my cousin to be happy. I really don’t give a damn about what races people are if they love each other, though I do know there are some that want Sam and Kara to succeed because they think it would improve relations between our races. A kind of modern Romeo and Juliet,” the girl shrugged stepping back closer to the door, still watching Jacqueline.
Jacqueline noticed the girl made no sound when she moved at all. It freaked her out a bit though she tried to keep it under control. “So where do I fit in? Besides being food.”
The girl chuckled for a moment. “Well, you aren’t food to any of the three of us, not unless you want to be.” She seemed to appraise Jacqueline for a moment before continuing more seriously. “I think you might become a sort of neutral party. A friend both of them really need who they can be themselves around without fearing what they let slip, without fearing that they will have a knife in their backs. Everyone needs friends like that,” a soft, sad inflection in her voice. “Especially them.”
“I already consider them friends. They saved my life,” Jacqueline eyed the girl. “I just don’t know how much they like me. I’m not going to be the pesky little freshman that follows them around.”
The girl smiled and chuckled. “Not saying you have to, but I’m glad you like them.” She suddenly crossed the room to whisper into Jacqueline’s ear. “I don’t suppose you’re into girls are you?”
Jacqueline blinked. “Um, not really.”
“A shame. You’re cute and sometimes I am,” the girl retreated slightly and pulled out a card placing it in Jacqueline’s hand. “My work card, though I’m also a junior here. My cell phone is on there. If you get in trouble, change your mind, or just want someone to have a beer with, give me a call. My name is Erica.” With that, she turned around and walked out of the room leaving a very confused Jacqueline looking after her.

***

Kara tossed and turned on her bed. After staring at the pictures of times she and Sam had spent together, she had tried to do her homework and eventually gave up, unable to focus.
He drew a picture of me. He only saw me as a wolf once when he knew it was me and yet he drew a picture of me.
She rolled over pulling the covers tight against her as she hugged herself, tears rolling down her cheeks. He loves me so much and yet all I do is hurt him because I’m afraid but I really don’t want to be hunted for the rest of my life. But I love him too. It’s so unfair.
The last thought she had when the merciful darkness of sleep finally over took her was he deserves someone better then me.